FIRE SAFETY AWARENESS IN PUBLIC HOUSING IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The aim of fire safety is to protect the lives of the occupants and safeguard their assets or properties. In order to attain this aim for public housing, a good fire safety design will have to comply with the local fire code, the prevailing legislations, the guidelines set out by Housing Development Board (HDB) as well as follow good fire engineering principles. In this study, the objectives are to appreciate the background of the fire regulatory framework in Singapore; to assess HDB residents on their level of recognition and their fire safety awareness (FSA) in public housing; and lastly to recommend solutions for the successful prevention of fire in public housing. Despite good fire safety design provision incorporated in its public housing programme, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) reported that the fire occurrence has continued to hike over the first 6 months of 2004 in comparison with the similar period over the previous year. This poses a challenging question for this study. FSA has been identified as an important component which has not been studied in depth by previous researchers to overcome this perpetual fire occurrence. This study would highlight various factors that would affect and influence FSA. Some recommendations are proposed to improve FSA and hope its could overcome this limitation. In conclusion, the success of the fire safety in public housing does not solely depend on the good fire safety design provided in the building and statutory requirements but also on the effort of the promotional volunteers and residents themselves. Such a holistic approach would be expected to plummet the fire cases in the statistical chart.